[antdroid]

I really like wireless and the ability to walk around wire free except the wire hanging around my neck. Thanks of the suggestion though, those look pretty awesome.

Ah okay. OT but I saw a KUOW banner ad on a bus this morning right after your post and thought that was funny.

I wish I had ZS10 to listen to and measure. Maybe I'll buy one when I see a good deal on it just to have in my database. The Rtings.com measurements look like it has a hump which I probably won't like in the upper bass region. Does it sound muddy?

 

[B9Scrambler]

@B9Scrambler - Here are the MiniDSP measurements I made last night. Green is the AS10, and red is the BA10.

Really interesting. I wonder how much their fit is affecting what I'm hearing. Thanks for the measurements

 

[khighly]

Ah okay. OT but I saw a KUOW banner ad on a bus this morning right after your post and thought that was funny.

I wish I had ZS10 to listen to and measure. Maybe I'll buy one when I see a good deal on it just to have in my database. The Rtings.com measurements look like it has a hump which I probably won't like in the upper bass region. Does it sound muddy?

I find them fairly flat, and have somewhat recessed bass & mid bass. They're clean & detailed. AS10's have more of a bump in mid bass and they're energetic without sounding muddy. I never trust these frequency graphs, they're confusing and all different, and I never actually hear anything any of them claim.

 

[stryed]

Yesterday my KZ AS10 arrived - let me share my impressions and thoughts with the background and experience of 10 years collecting inears in every price range from $ to 1.500$.
It is a fact that AS10 is the best product offering from KZ since starting their business - the company was founded a few years ago from guys which worked at Audio-Technica.
The crossover in combination with the BA's produce a very coherent balanced nearly flawless sound.
The biggest surprise is the bass driver which produce well textured and airy lows comparable to dynamic drivers.
A few weeks ago i heard the TOTL Empire Ears Phantom - believe me or not the balance and naturalness is better with the AS10.
I use AS10 with AK380 Copper and Questyle QP1R and i hear no big difference to other inears costing 20 times more.
I would say AS10 is 90% ot a TOTL offering - only the cheaper chinese armatures produces less microdetails compared to knowles.
When KZ will in the future focus on development and improvements instead of flooding the market with countless new types they can achieve the highest technical level combined
with cheap mass production - good for us but bad for the western manufacturer of overpriced so called TOTL offerings.

As a skeptical but weak person willing to buy a AS10, I'm strong enough to be holding on for the KZ7 impressions while the impressions on the BA10 ZS10 AS10 still come dropping in.
My first impressions of first impressions made by others is that the AS10 might have something special to offer at the sub100 price range.

 

[khighly]

The thing I want most from the ZS7 is no f*$&ing memory wire.

 

[CoiL]

Yesterday my KZ AS10 arrived - let me share my impressions and thoughts with the background and experience of 10 years collecting inears in every price range from $ to 1.500$.
It is a fact that AS10 is the best product offering from KZ since starting their business - the company was founded a few years ago from guys which worked at Audio-Technica.
The crossover in combination with the BA's produce a very coherent balanced nearly flawless sound.
The biggest surprise is the bass driver which produce well textured and airy lows comparable to dynamic drivers.
A few weeks ago i heard the TOTL Empire Ears Phantom - believe me or not the balance and naturalness is better with the AS10.
I use AS10 with AK380 Copper and Questyle QP1R and i hear no big difference to other inears costing 20 times more.
I would say AS10 is 90% ot a TOTL offering - only the cheaper chinese armatures produces less microdetails compared to knowles.
When KZ will in the future focus on development and improvements instead of flooding the market with countless new types they can achieve the highest technical level combined
with cheap mass production - good for us but bad for the western manufacturer of overpriced so called TOTL offerings.

Comparisons made by gap in time can play tricks - just sayin Sometimes comparing with TOTL IEM head-to-head at same time can result different.
But nice to hear that ppl in chi-fi are getting more than they pay for. Personally, reading AS10 reviews, I don`t seem to want it. And that brings me to point - we all have different ears, gear matching, preferences, tips being used, music etc. - one that can be TOTL for one might be "rubbsih" to other.

 

[seaice]

I use Shure SE846 as my longterm favourite reference in-ears but I have to provide heaphones to many members of my family. E.g. children destroy every piece quite quickly. So I recently bought KZ ZSA: Not bad for the money, better than in-ears usually packed with mobile phones but very far from neutrality and from the high SQ of Shure SE846, no contest here. Now awaiting ZS10...

 

[Slater]

The thing I want most from the ZS7 is no f*$&ing memory wire.

Add TRN cable. Done.

 

[Slater]

I have to provide headphones to many members of my family. E.g. children destroy every piece quite quickly.

I feel you friend. I deal with the same problem.

That's how I got to be so enthusiastic about the EDR1. For under $3, its built link a tank (if you get the version without mic). It has the bassy v shaped sound that most kids love. And when they destroy it you are only out a few dollars.

I only wish the cable was a little less gummy, which makes it tangle easier (and takes more patience to untangle, something kids don't have a lot of).

I have given my teenage daughter numerous IEM cases, and shown how to carefully wind up and unwind IEMs without tangling. But 9 out of 10 times when I'm doing laundry I'll find her IEMs crunched up into a ball and stuffed into her jeans pocket like a tangled ball of spaghetti. It's no wonder how they get destroyed!

This is why I buy things like aux cables and phone charger cables in bulk (and inexpensively). I literally just got a bulk shipment of 25 aux cables from Aliexpress, which cost me a total of $10 shipped. My daughter saw me open up the package and was like "wow dad that's a lot of cables do you really need all of those?" I said "well these are for you, and yes every 2-3 weeks when you come to me in a panic because you've lost or broken your headphone aux cable and need another one immediately, this is where those new cables magically come from."

Haha, kids.

 

[antdroid]

The thing I want most from the ZS7 is no f*$&ing memory wire.

At least they make its really easy to remove. But yea, the memory wire they use is absolute garbage.

 

[B9Scrambler]

At least they make its really easy to remove. But yea, the memory wire they use is absolute garbage.

KZ's memory wire is pretty darn good. Much better than the majority of the crap out there. It actually holds the shape you set it to. Can't say that about the "memory" wire on more expensive products like the Campfire Audio Polaris, Whizzer A150 Pro, Fisher Audio Omega, original FLC8S cable (which they revised and removed the memory wire from...wonder why?) and countless other examples. Once you've used some truly terrible memory wire, you'll know how good we have it with KZ. Still better to have preformed guides, or better yet nothing, but KZ's wire does what it's supposed to do.

 

[Nightmara]

Can anyone recommend comfy tips for ES4? I don't have them yet so can't measure the nozzle just yet but would love to get some recommendations so I could order them straight away. I get sore ears from most tips and I heard KZ default tips are not too good.
Low price is preferred

 

[antdroid]

KZ's memory wire is pretty darn good. Much better than the majority of the crap out there. It actually holds the shape you set it to. Can't say that about the "memory" wire on more expensive products like the Campfire Audio Polaris, Whizzer A150 Pro, Fisher Audio Omega, original FLC8S cable (which they revised and removed the memory wire from...wonder why?) and countless other examples. Once you've used some truly terrible memory wire, you'll know how good we have it with KZ. Still better to have preformed guides, or better yet nothing, but KZ's wire does what it's supposed to do.

I prefer no memory wire personally, but I really liked the one that came with the Noble Audio IEMs and Unique Melody. I still end up using my own DIY cables though, which do not have memory wire at all.

 

[Slater]

Can anyone recommend comfy tips for ES4? I don't have them yet so can't measure the nozzle just yet but would love to get some recommendations so I could order them straight away. I get sore ears from most tips and I heard KZ default tips are not too good.
Low price is preferred

Not sure who you heard that from. KZ stock tips (ie Starlines) are awesome, and I use them on the majority of my IEMs.

It really depends on WHY you are getting sore ears. Is it because your ears are very narrow (for example), or very big? And do you get sore ears from silicone tips or foam tips? How long are your listening sessions - 30 minutes, 8 hours?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

After reading the initial impressions of the BA-10 I decided to just go and buy the AS-10. The thought of an uncomfortable fit doesn't really appeal to me.

The AS-10 is arriving tomorrow and I'll do some music comparisons between:

AS-10
ZS-10
Westone W60

All using the DragonFly Red DAC and Tidal Lossless.

Having had the ZS-10 for longer I can say that the sound is warm and fun while having good separation and not much mud. The Westone W60s have no mud and excellent separation but can sound anemic due to a lower amount of bass compared to the ZS-10.

I've tested 30+ IEMs before over hours and hours in Japan in a store called e-earphones and can say that the ZS-10s are *incredibly* good value for the money. There are some IEMs in the $400 range that I thought were worse than these ZS-10s, and really, anything over $200 IMO is starting to get into serious money so I get pretty worked up over things like muddiness in, say, a $300 IEM. A Westone W30 triple driver for $400? Absolute garbage for the money.

I'm really into vocals though, mostly female, and the Westone W60 vocals are pure sex. Just... heart-stoppingly sweet vocals like the artist is right beside you singing in your ear. I unfortunately have not been able to get the same sensation with the ZS-10s, which isn't to say the ZS-10 vocals are bad. They're great. But the W60s are just amazing. And the KSE1500s (which I don't own) take them up yet another notch.